POSTGRADUATE FAIR 2012
Professional Development | Career Coaching | Executive Search

Executive Career Advice: Strategies to Get Headhunted

Christie Khoo, Managing Director of Aventis Recruit Strategy, shares her strategies for PMETs and businesses for the year ahead

 

 

Christie, what is your take on the current state of employment and hiring conditions in Singapore?

I remember once, when Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew was asked on what Singaporeans are like, and his reply was that we are a hardworking, intelligent and honest people. In line with his words, I also personally believe that we are able to overcome this current economic crisis if we started to look at the big picture, and join forces to explore more ways of collaboration. For example, in these current challenging times, businesses should look into new ways to empower their employees and give them a sense of ownership, security, and also explore developing new products and services to stay ahead of the competition. While on the other hand, jobseekers should actively look for untapped areas of hidden business potential to explore, be open to training to learn new skill sets, and do more active networking to expand their job opportunities and circle of useful contacts.

What are some important business observations that you can share?

Firstly, the leaders and managers of any organization must connect with their frontline staff and also lead by example, as this is the best way to achieve productivity and inspire their staff to give their best as well.

Secondly, in today's challenging business climate, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can help a company to foster a positive public image and this can also ultimately create strong customer loyalty and help the company to grow its customer base as well.

Thirdly, even though working life can be really stressful these days, we should always remember to be sincere and have a personal touch when we interact with clients and colleagues as well - this is a fundamental principle to creating a gracious and harmonious society.

What's one example of an inspiring success story in business?

Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's - which is today the most successful fast food restaurant globally, was 53 years old and suffering from diabetes when he set up the McDonald's Restaurants franchise in USA in 1961. This to me, is a really inspiring success story of a Silver Talent (older workers) overcoming the odds and is definitely a strong motivational story for jobseekers both young and old too.

How has the Headhunting industry evolve over the past few years to meet the ever changing global business environment?

We view the Headhunting industry as evolving from being a talent search and placement entity into one that is a true-blue Career-Search-Firm.

A career has now been re-defined as lifelong learning, which entails continuous education as an essential component to developing skills within Performance Leadership, People Leadership, and Organisational Capability.

A search has been focused on the timely identification and acquisition of respective talents, an increasingly challenging task with increased mobility and abundant choices that talents are presented with.

What is your advice for PMETs?

There are no shortcuts in life - in whatever you do, it's never a good idea to try and take the easy way out because in the end, you will only get hurt and lose out.

What initiatives is Recruit Strategy Adopting for 2011?

As a firm, Aventis Recruit Strategy's Executive Search and CEO Services is able to leverage on the combined strengths of furthering a career and implementing those skills and knowledge into the newly placed work environment with every successful hire.

In this sense, a holistic approach towards Headhunting may now be approached through the Aventis Recruit Strategy's Executive Search and CEO Services: a pit-stop where your next destination is already in the works when you enter, a Career-Search-Firm. Aventis Recruit Strategy's Executive Search and CEO Services' entrance into the Headhunting industry is poised to share new insights in this "mobile talents era".

An upcoming highlight is the presentation of exclusive roundtable discussions organised with distinguished senior management executives from the banking and finance and hospitality sectors, to name a few. These roundtables are "by-invitation" to allow participants to experience the pulse of the markets from the senior management executives themselves. Participating in specially organised networking events themed as "Blue Ocean Strategies" or "Service Excellence - In Giving and In Receiving" with the executives will serve to be a platform that talents should explore as they transit into the next level within their careers.

Catch Ms Christie Khoo "Live" on 15th January (Saturday) at the Aventis Postgraduate Fair 2012

Ms Christie Khoo will speak on the key challenges facing PMETs today and the latest trends and development in the Headhunting Industry

Registrations are processed on a first-come, first-served basis.

Date	Sat & Sun, March 3 & 4, 2012
Venue	Suntec International Convention and Exhibition Centre Singapore Halls 402 – 404, Level 4
Time	4.30pm to 5.00pm
Fee	FREE
Enquiries	Tel: 6720 3333 or Email: info@aventis.edu.sg

About Ms Christie Khoo – Managing Director of Aventis Recruit Strategy

Born and bred in Singapore, self-made entrepreneur Christie Khoo began working as a salesperson at the age of 15, to earn some pocket money. Her foray into a sales position taught her the importance of excellent service skills, hence her quest to work for the maestro of excellent service, a company with a Japanese heritage.

Her first employer was with the Japanese giant, Matsushita Electric Co. back in 1990, which is now known as Panasonic Corporation. Discipline, respect for colleagues and customer service were the core lessons taught to her during her time in Matsushita. Under the leadership and mentorship of her manager, Christie discovered that her passion laid in the discovery of potential talents who can assist a company towards further growth and success.

She started her own recruitment firm, RecruitStrategy, to discover talents who will be able to contribute to a company's operations and growth plans. Christie successfully implemented RecruitStrategy's proprietary Search Analysis Technique to strategically search and match the ideal top talents to the top positions. Insights for these were obtained from the Sun Tzu Art of War strategies.

Christie's initial exposure to the Art of War strategies was during her time in Matsushita, where its entrepreneurial founder, Mr Konosuke Matsushita once said, "All our staff members must read Master Sun's Art of War and apply its teachings flexibly so that my firm will flourish." Having developed a keen eye for the Art of War strategies with nearly two decades of professional experience, Christie has also incorporated these strategies as an essential set of fundamentals within RecruitStrategy's business model and recruitment processes. RecruitStrategy has also embarked on a collaboration with world renowned Art of War strategies' guru, Professor Foo Check Teck, who founded the Sun Tzu Art of War Institute. This is a think-tank that is also the Strategic Leadership Centre of Excellence of the Aventis School of Management, a leading business school in Singapore. Together, research and development has been carried out to invent a proprietary assessment tool that allows RecruitStrategy to critically assess a talent's prior work experience and his or her inherent potential.

More of Christie's Entrepreneur's Journey on »